I Spy
by Miss-Ashwright
Summary: Jace Herondale has to track down a hacker who's able to break through the securest system in the world undetected. But she's planned this in an attempt to get revenge on the man who manipulated her into becoming an assassin. Now she has a job in an agency with no choice in her roommate...who she's slept with. Will she get out of it alive or will her heart be in pieces? AU Clace
1. The Hacker

**AN: Hello! Welcome to my new story! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it! Leave reviews and tell me what you think! Make sure to check out my other stories too!**

 **~Miss-Ashwright**

 **Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns all characters in this story.**

"I've called you all here because we have an issue," the Director says. He leans forward in his seat and presses a button on the control panel in front of him, covering the windows with the blinds so nobody can see in. The projector screen drops behind the Director and he presses another button so a multitude of pictures show up. One shows a picture of the top secret file names that nobody in the room knows about. Another is of a blueprint for the building. A third, for the security codes. And the last was a new file with the title: _I'm coming_.

"Who is able to hack into our system?" The Director looks at the faces sitting at the long conference table in front of him. He notices his daughter Isabelle, his son Alec, and Simon, Isabelle's boyfriend who works in the tech department. Just as his eyes are about to scan the other side of the table, someone interrupts him.

"This is all one guy?"

His eyes dart to the owner of the voice, Sebastian Verlac, who looks confused. "Yes, Agent Verlac. This is all one person. Anymore questions?"

"Yeah," a girl with an Asian look to her delicate features speaks up, "If they're supposedly ' _coming'_ how do we know when and who is hacking our system?"

He sighs, "That's the issue…we don't know. Whoever is doing this is a ghost. We're going off the limited information we have here. Lewis, you start scanning the computers to see if we can get a signal and see where their coming from, Herondale-" He looks around the room for a sign of the golden boy but doesn't find one. He grumbles, "Everyone else, listen for any information about this guy. You're all dismissed."

The agents stand and walk out of the room before Director Lightwood calls two agents back. "Agents Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood," his authoritative voice rings out halting the two in their tracks. They turn slowly to face their father. "Yes, Sir," Alec speaks first.

"Where's Agent Herondale?"

"Sir," Isabelle says, "He hasn't arrived yet."

Director Lightwood, ever the cold man with his own children states, "Bring him to my office immediately after he arrives. You are dismissed."

~.o.O.o.~

 **Jace POV:**

I walk into Headquarters with my smirk as I pass the reception desk and head to the elevators. I see Kaelie sitting there looking at me as I walk in. She looks at Aline sitting next to her and tells her something. A few moments later, she is standing next to me waiting for the elevator. The elevator arrives quickly and she steps in after me. I press the button for the 27th floor and the moment the doors shut, Kaelie jumps me. She attacks my lips and things get pretty heated. I don't realize that the elevator stopped at the 27th floor until I hear Izzy. "You!" Kaelie and I separate and Izzy looks pissed.

She is standing in front of the elevator doors and has her arms crossed as she walks inside. She narrows her eyes at me and soon, her gaze shifts to Kaelie and she presses the button for the first floor. I try to sneak out of the elevator as they continue to glare at each other but Izzy stops me, "You stay right where you are Herondale. If you even _glance_ outside this elevator I _will_ hurt you."

The doors close again and I say, "It's not that big of a deal Iz."

She looks incredulously at me and says, "You're _three hours_ late, Jace! Please tell me that _this_ isn't what you were doing all morning." She looks at Kaelie again and Kaelie glares at Izzy. "She works at the reception desk anyway. She's not supposed to be up here-"

"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do!" Kaelie interrupts Izzy and Izzy turns towards Kaelie.

"Actually, I can tell you what you can and can't do. In case you forgot, I'm at a higher position than you on the board so don't piss me off," Izzy growls out just as the elevator doors opened on the bottom floor. Kaelie knocks into Izzy as she stomps out of the elevator in her pumps. I watch her ass as she leaves and then I feel Izzy swat the back of my head. "You're such an asshole," she grumbles as she presses the button for the 32nd floor.

We ride up the elevator in silence except for the occasional yawn I release and she rolls her eyes each time I do so. She leads me to her dads' office and knocks before she enters with me slowly walking in tow. "Ah, how nice of you to finally join us Agent Herondale."

I groan inwardly as I hear the Directors tone, preparing for the scolding that I know is coming. "You're," he paused and lifted his arm to look at his watch, " _three hours_ late Agent. This is unacceptable."

In the room I see Alec sitting in front of the desk and Izzy takes the other chair, leaving me to stand behind them. "You two will explain to Agent Herondale what's going on and then continue to do your work. Agent Herondale," he addressed me, "this is your mission. Agent Lewis is trying to find their location and when he does, you will order some of the new trainees to go get him. Is this clear?"

"Yes, Sir," I said and he dismissed us.

~.o.O.o.~

"Someone _hacked our system?"_ I was shocked. This has never happened before. Normally we catch them at our firewalls and trace them with ease. Now, we have the challenge of actually finding whoever this guy is.

"Yeah and they got whatever information it is they wanted. Simon is absolutely panicked downstairs. He ordered everyone to start working on decoding the signal and finding out something about this guy," Izzy pulled her brows together and shook her head. "I just can't believe it."

"Well, at least Simon doesn't have to go train newbie's like Jace does," Alec smirked.

I groaned and slouched back into my chair. "It's the worst task ever," I complained and Izzy laughed.

"Yeah, I know. That was what I had to do two months ago."

I put my head in my hands and mumbled before hearing Izzy and Alec leave, saying something about getting back to their tasks. I opened my laptop and pulled up the pictures again, scanning them for something to give me a hint so I didn't have to train the beginners.

My eyes quickly darted all over the pages until I reached the last one with the file. It looked like it was different a different color than the other files. I cropped close-ups of the files and scanned their colors in an html color code scanner. The other files were beige and this one was beige sienna. I reached for the phone on my desk and called up to the Director.

"Agent Herondale, why call?"

"Because Director Lightwood, I found something while looking at the pictures and need you to have someone fill in training for me and I need Agent Lewis." I heard him suck in a breath and he quickly replied.

"I'll get Agent Verlac to fill in for you and I'll have Agent Lewis sent up within minutes."

"Thank you, Sir." He hung up and not even two minutes later, Simon came running to my cubicle with two laptops in hand.

"You found him?" He had a bewildered look in his eyes and I quickly explained about the colors.

"All I need you to do is set up a secure laptop for me so I can open the file."

He shook his head, "We tried that."

"Well do it again. I have an idea." Simon sighed and set up the secure browser in minutes. I sat in the chair and opened the file. Nothing.

"It's blank," Simon said, "That's what happened earlier when I had someone look.

"Yeah, well did they look at the code behind the file?" His eyes widened and I began to inspect the script. "It's in JAVA." I looked at the code for the file and saw the plain line used to write script:

 _.println("I'm coming");_

I then saw the code for a file within a file and inspected that. It was the jackpot. Exactly what we were looking for…a hint. It gave a code that I didn't know how to read and wrote it down on a post-it note and handed it to Simon. "Can you decipher this by the end of the day?"

He looked at the note and grimaced before nodding. "It's in a script that I don't recognize. It might be a low-level language so it'll be a while before I figure it out. I'll get it and give it to you as soon as possible."

He left and I looked at the code, trying to rearrange the jumbled letters and numbers to make sense but came up with nothing.

~.o.O.o.~

"I want 20 laps and I want them _now,"_ I shouted at the trainees and they grumbled before complying and running around the training center. One of the new guys thinks he's hot shit and talked back to me. So naturally I took him up on his challenge to see who's stronger and now he's in the infirmary with a broken nose, arm, and dislocated shoulder. So I'm punishing the others so they don't get any bright ideas.

"Agent Herondale!" I turned my head and saw Simon frantically walking towards me. He reached me and handed me another post-it note. It was an address and he explained as I memorized it. "It's the code you handed me earlier. It's a venue and there's a ball there tonight. I already told the Director and you have a ticket to get in. All you'll be doing is looking for anyone who looks suspicious and reporting back to Sebastian so we can get a more accurate description of what we might be working with."

"So I can still have fun?"

He rolled his eyes at my smirk and said, "Yes, but you still have to be safe and report in on suspicious activity before you do anything else."

"That will be done…oh, and I'll go get Sebastian so he can train the newbie's again while I get ready for the ball seeing as it starts at 6:30 and it's already 5:00. Watch them." Simon stuttered after me as I left the room with and went to go find Sebastian.

~.o.O.o.~

 **Clary's POV:**

It was too easy. Way too easy to hack that system. It's almost elementary. Oh, well. That means that I get to look around on their system for a while. I coded myself to look like the security system they have that constantly checks every firewall on the system. Only when I want to give them hints about what I'm looking at do I turn off that code and let myself be coded as a common hacker. I opened every file and memorized everything within them.

After a while, an alert popped on my screen and told me that they finally found me. _God, it took them long enough._ I monitored their activity to scan the system and see what I'd allowed them to know I looked at. It was now 9:00 in the morning and I'd been shitting around on their system for three hours. _And they're supposed to be some of the smartest programmers in the world._ I scoffed at the idea.

"Would you like another coffee, miss," the barista at the coffee shop asked me. She was young. At least 16. I saw her try to glance at my computer screen and I leaned back to let her. I stared at her face as she inspected my screen and all she saw was code. She glanced back at me and I raised one eyebrow at her. She cowered back a bit before I told her, "No, I'm fine thanks."

She left hastily and I continued my work in the dark corner of the shop. I heard the bell ring, telling me that someone just walked in and I glanced up. I saw a couple who looked just a little older than myself and saw the irritated look on the girls face. Her boyfriend asked her what she wanted and she didn't respond. He then grabbed her wrist, hidden from view by the barista, and squeezed. She let out a tiny sound of pain and answered him quickly.

He nodded his head and ordered two before paying and ordering her to go sit somewhere. She looked around for a corner and saw me looking at her. She blushed and bowed her head before walking over to sit three tables away from me. Her boyfriend was at the counter waiting for their coffee so I leaned over and said, "You want out?"

"Pardon," she questioned, her eyebrows going up to her hairline and glanced at her boyfriend before her eyes darted back to mine.

"Your boyfriend," I stated more than asked, "he hurts you doesn't he."

She immediately went on the defensive. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You have bruises all over your wrists and arms. It's August, why else would you be wearing sleeves?" She lowered her head and didn't respond. "How long have you been together?"

"Three years. And I-I know I should leave but I've tried before and he came back," her eyes darkened at the memory.

"I'll help you."

"What? Have you seen my boyfriend? I don't want to be rude, but he's at least one foot taller than you and a good 100 pounds heavier." She looked scared but I just glanced at him and saw he was irritated because the coffee was taking so long to make.

"I'll be fine and you will too. What's your name?" I asked her quickly because he just got the coffee and went to the counter to fix it up with sugar and milk.

"Miranda."

"I'm Clarissa and I'll meet you outside. Enjoy your coffee and leave when he wants. You'll be free of him before you reach the end of the street. I promise. Just run back to your place when I tell you to. I'll be fine. Just run." She looked at me with thanks and confusion in her eyes before I stood, closed my laptop, and darted out the door before he saw me.

I turned right and crossed to the other side of the street so I could watch the door. I sat on the landing steps of someone's apartment while I waited. Almost an hour later, they walked out of the coffee shop and he looked pissed. I jumped up and pulled my bag on my shoulder before darting across the New York City stand-still traffic.

Once I was finished with dodging all the yellow taxi's I started walking after them and was a good enough distance so they could hear me as I asked, "Miranda?"

She turned with wide eyes and uncertainly questioned, "Clarissa?" I stepped towards her and she shook her head almost imperceptibly. A warning I completely ignored.

"I haven't seen you for years! How are you?"

"I'm alright," she spoke slowly, trying to gauge her boyfriend's reaction to meeting an old friend.

He still looked pissed as he growled out, "Who is the little redhead?"

I let her come up with the lie as she said, "I knew her from when I was growing up in Brooklyn. She was my neighbor's daughter."

"Yeah, well she needs to leave. She looks irritating." She closed her eyes softly and turned to walk with him. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear to make her shake.

"Well that was rude you asshole." I was goading him on. He stopped and turned to face me again before releasing Miranda's hand and taking a hostile step towards me.

"You need to learn to keep your mouth shut, bitch," he spat out at me and I looked around him to Miranda and mouthed 'Run' to her. She turned on her heel and started running. He realized too late that she was running and before he could run after her, I ran past him and knocked into him with the force of a bull. He lost his balance a bit before sprinting after me and spewing threats.

I turned down an alley way and ran to the dead end before I turned to face him. I got into position and saw him running into the alley. I watched his movements and saw when he pulled a knife out of his pocket. He stopped about three feet in front of me and made sure to show that he had a knife in his hand, trying to intimidate me.

"You need to learn some manners," he ground out, breathless from running. He started towards me and tried to slice my stomach with the blade. I jumped out of the way and he looked startled. "What the hell?" He tried again and I dodged him again. This went on for a while before I noticed him getting angry, tired, and sloppy.

I quickly dodged his attempt to hit me on my left side and hit his arm, causing him to lose his grip on the blade. I grabbed it quickly and turned it on him. I spun around and his back was against the wall. He looked shocked and went to charge at me. I avoided his grasp and stepped behind him with the knife now pressed against his throat. "Will you ever hurt anyone again," I questioned.

He didn't respond so I pressed the blade a little harder against his throat. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to let him know I wouldn't be afraid to do it. "Okay, fine. I won't hurt anyone again."

"Say it like you mean it," I pressed on.

Once again he said nothing and I used my right foot to kick him in the back of the knee and bring him down to the ground. He was lying on his back, gasping for breath since I knocked the wind out of him. I sat on his chest and put my knees on his arms to prevent him from getting up and trying anything on me. I leaned forward and pointed the tip of the blade at the underside of his chin. He lifted his head up higher, trying to avoid the tip.

" _Say it,"_ I growled. He groaned and I gently touched the tip to his skin. I noticed him starting to sweat from his brow and pressed on. " _Now."_

"Alright, alright," he conceded, "I won't hurt anyone ever again!"

"Good," I said before standing up and walking away a few steps. I turned around and told him, "Just so you know, I know everything that goes on in this city. I have eyes everywhere and if I hear so much as a rumor that you've harmed anyone, _especially a woman_ , I will find you and remove your balls before I finish you off with my bare hands."

He gulped and I threw his knife at him. it landed in the dirt next to his head and I heard him give a sigh of relief before I walked out of the alley. I smirked and saw Miranda at the corner of the street and told her to not ever worry about him again. She hugged me in thanks and I gave a very awkward hug in return. I'm not the hugging type but couldn't get out of it.

Once she turned and walked away I saw lightness to her walk and smiled lightly before turning and heading back to my apartment.

I had a ball to get ready for.


	2. The Event

**Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns all characters in this story.**

 **Clary POV:**

"I fucking hate this door," I cursed under my breath as I fought to jam the key in the lock and get it to turn properly. I continued cursing until the key slid into the lock. "Yes," I released a breath and pushed all my weight to the left side of my body as I turned the key, unlocking my apartment door.

I sighed as I heard the lock click and pulled the key out of the lock and into my bag before I turned the knob and slammed all my body weight into the door. The door loosened from its stuck position and swung open easily. I walked into my apartment and slammed the door shut with my foot. The only way to actually get the door to shut.

I set my bag down on my small round dining table and opened my laptop again. I checked their progress on finding out about the ball and saw that someone was smart enough to look at the color of the files more closely. _Good. Now I will have something to do tonight rather than sit there and wonder if they've figured it out or not. If they haven't figured it out by 5:00 I'll solve it for them._

I looked around my small apartment and took everything in. It was in a pretty bad area with a lot of crime but it only took me one week before everyone who lives in this area or works (commits crime) to respect me. I'll walk by, ride my Yamaha motorbike by, or drive my Dodge Charger by and everyone avoids me. Nobody touches my cars or me. They know the consequences.

One guy learned it the hard way and walked away with a couple broken bones after trying to break into my car. Then he tried to hotwire my motorbike and I stood there watching him fail. There was a crowd around us by the time he gave up and tried to attack me. It didn't end well for him and ever since then, I have a reputation.

I stood up from my chair and walked around the counter into the kitchen that could only fit one person and grabbed some leftover Chinese food from the local restaurant The Jade Wolf. They have really good food and its super convenient to call in the food after a long day.

I put the takeout in the microwave and ate my lunch while watching the security cameras within The Institute. That's the fancy name for the agency that I hacked earlier and I'm currently watching the newbie's get trained by a blonde dude. I can't see his face because he's conveniently hidden his face from every camera in the training room. The trainees suck. They're not even trying to do anything. Oh well, it makes it easier for me to see their weaknesses.

I'm getting bored. Nothing is happening besides them missing their target every time they fire the gun. Ugh, it's already 3:30 and the event starts at 6:30. I get up and throw away my now empty container of food and head into my room.

It's small but big enough for me for fit all of my clothes and weapons in here. The floorboards are very convenient places to hide handguns and knives. The little hideaway in the back of my closet is for the bigger stuff like my bow and quiver, and my sniper rifles.

The bathroom that connects to the room is _very_ small. It only has the capacity for a sink, toilet, and very cramped shower. Oh, well. I can't complain about it now seeing as I've got to get ready for a ball that's in 3 hours.

~.o.O.o.~

"Ooh! At least it's getting interesting now," I voiced my thought aloud as I painted my nails the blood red shade that matches my hair. I had showered and shaved for the event tonight and already had my make up on. I had a dark smoky eye with lightly winged eyeliner and dark rose colored red lips. It was 5:00 and since the code hadn't been figured out, I sent them a hint and they figured it out almost immediately.

I was watching the security cameras again and found that the blonde dude had some trainee who thought he was 'all that' and challenged the blonde guy to a fight. The others surrounded them in a circle and I put my quick dry gel nail polish away. The blonde guy seemed to be sizing up his competitor and the other guy was strutting around cockily. I watched this fight start and end within seconds.

The challenger tried to rush the blonde guy and the blonde guy ducked before spinning around and landing a punch to the others face. I saw blood leaving his nose. A sure sign of a broken nose. Next, the guy charged the blonde again and the blonde grabbed the guys arm and twisted it to dislocate it. The guy with the broken nose and now dislocated shoulder was kneeling on the floor with his arm still in the blonde's hand and then it snapped.

He broke the same arm that he just dislocated. I watched as he ordered two trainees to escort the moaning guy to the infirmary and then ordered the others to run 20 laps. He had a lethal grace that I haven't seen in years from someone else except from myself. He was focused and deadly. He never backed down from a challenge and knew his opponents move before they did. It's almost like he was trained like me…..

I stopped these thoughts as a man with mousey brown hair and glasses stepped onto the training room floor and handed the blonde a note. I knew what it was. It was the address for the event tonight and a ticket to get in. Looks like I'll be meeting a blonde tonight.

I stood and shut down my laptop before I picked it up and took it to the wall safe in my room. It was in a classic place. Behind a painting. Oh, well. The code is _very_ complex and I'd be shocked if someone was able to crack the code.

I shut the door and locked it before turning around and opening my dresser to get out my push-up bra and panties. They were incredibly lacy and black; almost sheer, but still elegant. To complete the look I slipped on a matching garter belt and black sheer thigh highs that I held up with the clasps from the belt.

I walked into my bathroom to finish my hair and pinned all of it to the right side of my head. I used a curling iron to give my normally hectic curls a smooth and sleek wavy look. By the time I was finished with my hair it was 6:00 and I was a good 40 minutes from the venue where the ball was being held.

I walked back into my room and put on my black stilettos. They were open toed with the straps in a zigzag of three lines across my foot with little gems all along them. I caught a look of myself in my floor length mirror and smirked. I looked good without a dress even on. Tonight I was a femme fatale. A complete vixen that would get what…or rather who she wanted without question.

I strode over to my closet door and picked the black floor length dress with a slit that reach just below the top of my thigh-highs. It showed _a lot_ of leg and the sides of the dress were mesh. The mesh ended just below my bra and just above my panties. I was ready to go and completely prepared to kick ass if need be because I hid a small dagger in my matching clutch that looked like it was a makeup compact.

I looked at the clock once more before grabbing the car keys to my Dodge and fighting with the door a bit before closing it and locking it. I walked down the stairs to the community center in the front of my building and ran into my neighbor Maia. She had tanned skin and brown hair with curly blonde ends. "Hi, Maia."

She looked me up and down and said, "Shit you look like a million bucks!"

I smiled, "Thanks Maia. How's it going with breaking up with Jordan?"

She sighed, "Well, it's going…He refuses to believe that I want to break up with him."

"Let me know if you want me to help get the message across, okay?"

She smiled brightly, "Thanks, Clarissa!"

I gave her one last smile before I walked out of the building and got in my car. It rumbled to life beneath me and I smiled. "There's a sound I love." I checked the mirrors before turning the wheels and slamming on the gas. I shot out into the street with the engine humming with power. It made me smile when I saw people looking at me driving because they were shocked that I drove like I owned the road. It was a great feeling.

I made it to the event at 7:00 and when the valet opened the door for me, I felt all eyes on me. I sauntered up the steps to the doors that had the ticket guard in front and I handed him the ticket. I saw his eyes roam my body and snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Hey, buddy," he looked dazed, "Eyes here." I pointed to the ticket and he hung his head with a blush on it before ripping my ticket and handing it back to me.

I walked into the hallway that would take me to the ballroom and turned a quick left into the double doors. The doors opened out onto a staircase that would take me down to the dance floor with all eyes on me because I arrived later than everyone else. I emphasized my movements as I walked down the stairs with one hand on the rail and the other innocently holding my dress up a bit more so I wouldn't trip while going down the stairs and to also flash a little more leg.

I walked through the gracefully dancing bodies and sat down at one of the tables in the very outer edges of the room. Some couples were dancing, others were sitting and talking. Some men, old and around my age, were getting a swat on the back of their head from their dates.

I roll my eyes at the amount of stares I'm getting and continue to sit and wait for someone in the crowd to catch my eye. Almost immediately, I see an attractive golden blonde man in an all black tux standing in the corner bringing his hand up closer to his face. He scratches his nose, but I see his mouth moving almost imperceptibly as his watch nears his mouth. _Gotcha Blondie._

It's a rookie mistake to talk to someone like that. And standing in the corner all alone doesn't do anything to help his cover. He lowers his hand and his eyes scan the room until they find mine. I glance away quickly, acting like I wasn't looking. Then, I look back up at him under my lashes and bite my lip gently. He smirks and begins to walk towards me.

The closer he gets to me, the easier it is to see his features. His slightly wavy hair that reaches his ears, strong build, and…golden eyes. I have never seen eyes like that on a person before and it takes my breath away. I shake my head a bit to regain my thoughts and control of my body as he stands in front of the empty chair next to me.

"Is this seat taken," he asks with the look of desire in his eyes. I mimic his look and shake my head. He pulls out the chair to sit with an easy grin on his face. I pull the coy smile on my face and immediately get a reaction out of him. He winks at me as I tilt my head to the side.

"What's your name Blondie?"

"My name's Jace," the golden blonde states, "And you are?"

"Intrigued," I say smoothly, leaning forward.

"What are you intrigued about," he asks, also leaning forward. His face is just inches from mine so I sit back in my chair to play my game.

"You."

"And what is it about me that is so intriguing," the silky voice he asks in makes me feel a shiver run through my body. _He's good…this has never happened to me before._

"Well, it's just that I've never met…or seen a man like you." His face changes from the flirty grin into his full-blown panty dropping smirk as I continue. "The way you walk with such confidence…it seems like you know the weakness of every person in here. The air around you has this… _lethal_ taste to it…but that doesn't keep the women away. No, in fact…it brings us closer…wanting the feel of danger that only you seem to provide. But you already knew all this of course…you're Jace."

He sits back into his chair and his smirk gets a sultry vibe to it. "How right you are, Red."

I smile lightly and cross my legs so the slit of my dress reveals my legs up to my upper thigh. I feel his eyes run up my bare legs until they reach the fabric of my dress, blocking his view from anything else. His eyes continue their journey up my body as they scan my mesh adorned sides, to my chest, and back up to my face to rest on my deep red lips. "Are you here with anyone?"

The golden gaze jumps back to my eyes and he says, "I was supposed to meet someone here."

"Oh, like a date?" I raise one eyebrow.

"No," he says abruptly, "Not a date. My friend wanted to set me up and told me to meet her here, but she hasn't shown up yet."

"Have you ever seen what she looks like?"

"Nope."

"So it's like a blind date?"

He shrugs, "I guess."

"I think I see her," I look over his shoulder and picked a random girl who looked like she was looking for someone. He turns to grimace lightly at me and looks contemplative for a moment.

"Would you care to dance?"

"I thought you'd never ask," I respond. He's playing right into my hands.

He stands and grabs my hand gently. A jolt of electricity runs through me at his touch as I slowly rise and see his gaze flicker to my bare leg before he lifts his gaze back to mine. "What happened to the mystery girl," I ask.

"She can wait." We walk towards the dance floor and find space amongst the other finely clad men and women. His arm wraps around my waist and the other grabs my right hand before pulling my body flush against his. I let out a small gasp of surprise and look up into his eyes as we begin to sway to the music. He smirks and glides us around the dance floor effortlessly.

"You've got some good moves," I say, setting him up for the double meaning behind those words.

"If you think these moves are good then you should see what else I can do," he says suggestively. _Bingo. Exactly what I wanted him to say._ I stood up a little taller and moved my left hand from his arm to the nape of his neck to pull his face closer.

"Maybe you should show me then," I whispered into his ear. He smirked and was about to say something when the Emcee spoke over the speakers.

"Alright, the dinner buffet is now open. Please enjoy yourselves and thank you for donating to the Arts Society tonight."

I stepped away from his strong arms and asked, "Food?"

He smiled, "Let's go," and placed a hand on my waist to pull me closer as we walked over to the food. The line was getting longer as it filled up with old people and we waited in silence until we were next and the old people in front of us couldn't make up their minds. Jace groaned beside me. "This is going to take forever."

"I have an idea," I smirked, "Play along." I walked up to the old couple in front of us and tapped the lady on the shoulder.

"Yes, dear?" She was a sweet old woman and it kinda hurt for me to do this to her but it was also hilarious to see her reaction.

"Well, you see," I began, pulling Jace closer to me and placing his hand on my stomach, "My boyfriend and I are going to have a baby and I need to eat so would you mind if we went in front of you?"

Her eyes widened, "Boyfriend?" By now her husband has joined in on this conversation and looked as equally appalled as her.

"Yes, ma'am. My boyfriend and I have had sex out of wedlock and are going to have a child."

That statement left the old woman stuttering and her husband had wide eyes. They were so shocked that Jace and I were able to walk in front of them successfully and get our food. "You are brilliant," Jace said in my ear.

"I know," I responded.

~.o.O.o.~

We ate separately because the old woman and her husband cornered him and had him explaining what came over him to make him do that to me and what he plans to do about it. I did jump in as I was walking by to use the restroom at one point and told them that it was _my_ idea and I gave my _full_ consent which had them looking at me with wide eyes again.

After that, Jace found me again and pulled me even closer to him as we danced again. "You never told me your name," he said.

"It's none of your business," I said playfully. He smirked and his hand on my waist began to wander lower to my hips and pulls me even closer to him than we were before.

"Oh, I think you want to tell me. You're just playing hard-to-get."

I pretended to be thoughtful about it and said, "Maybe…but if I was playing hard-to-get…would I do this?" I removed my hand from his and moved my hand from his arm and they both went around his face to pull his lips to mine. His lips were stoic for a split second before he responded to my kiss. I felt something in that kiss that I'd never felt before. It was different…weird…but a good different.

There we were, making out in the middle of the _waltz_ surrounded by old people. And our favorite old couple gave a noise of distress before we split apart and laughed breathlessly. "If you were playing hard-to get I don't think you'd be doing that," Jace said and I smirked.

I turned away from him and went over to the table where my clutch was sitting. I picked it up and as I backed away, I felt someone standing behind me. I stopped backing up before I hit them and he stepped forward. It was Jace. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around my middle. I saw the old people walking towards us again with a look like they were going to say something not so nice to us.

Jace saw it too and when they were in earshot he said, "Come on babe, let's go get a private room somewhere and have sex as loudly as we want." I laughed and agreed with him.

We passed the old couple and saw their disgusted looks and laughed as we walked up the stairs. He had his arm around my waist again and we continued on our way down the hall to the normal entrance when suddenly, I was pushed up against the wall. I welcomed this advance. Jace leaned down and roughly said in my ear, "Are you going to tell me your name now?"

His hands were running all over my body, making me moan lowly. "No," I got out between breathless moans.

He pressed his lips hotly against mine and my leg wrapped around his hips. He ground into me. "How about now?"

"Clarissa," I gave in.

He said nothing in return before he pressed his lips back against mine and asked for entrance with his tongue. We were leaning against the wall like that for a bit before I heard someone say, "Jace?"

Jace moved his mouth off of mine and turned to look at the guy who said his name. He was tall with dark hair and dark eyes that were scanning me and Jace with amusement. I glared at him when his eyes met mine and he turned and left immediately.

"Shall we continue this?" Jace looked at me with desire and I could feel the evidence of that against my stomach.

I nodded. "I've got a car," I said.

"Great." He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs to the valet. I gave him the number and he came back with my car a few minutes later. Jace and I were thrumming with energy. I jumped into the driver's seat and we pulled away quickly.

"Just pull over here," he said impatiently. I stopped the car and turned it off. He reached over and pulled me into his lap. His lips quickly met mine in a kiss filled with lust and need. He reached behind me and pulled the zipper down on my dress while I pulled his jacket off and threw it in the back seat. He pulled my dress down off my shoulders and groaned at the sight of my bra and kissed me roughly.

I moaned into his kiss and started to work on the buttons on his shirt while he pulled my bra off in one swift movement. His lips moved to my breasts and I moaned once they reached their destination. I was so into the moment I didn't give a shit and ripped the last three buttons off his shirt. He groaned and moved his lips back up to mine.

I ran my hands all over his bare muscled chest while he pulled up the bottom of my dress and saw my garter belt, stocking, and panties. He groaned and kissed me hard as his fingers began to run along the fabric. I moaned loudly as he ran his hands up and down my thighs before pulling my panties aside and brushing his fingers against me.

I couldn't take it anymore as I quickly moved my hands to his zipper and popped open the button. I unzipped his pants and he moved his hips up so I could pull them and his boxers down. I let my fingers lightly touch the underside of his dick and he thrust his hips up to my hand while groaning loudly, " _Clarissa."_

To retaliate he pushed two fingers inside of me and curled them. "Ahh," I gasped and my hips bucked forward involuntarily. I'd had enough of this. I wanted him inside of me. I reached over and opened my clutch, pulling out a condom. I ripped it open and rolled it on him before he pulled me onto him roughly.

I released a moan so loud; you could probably hear it outside of the car. He pulled my lips to his and kissed me passionately while I moved on him. We didn't last very long because of our built up tension in the hallway. He reached down and rubbed the apex of my thighs when we were close and that was my undoing. I moaned and pulled his lips to mine as he finished with me.

We were breathless and still recovering from our climaxes when I reached into the back seat and handed him his clothes and turned to grab my bra off the steering wheel. We dressed quietly and I sat back in the driver's seat. "Where's your place? I'll give you a ride."

He told me the address and I drove him there. I sped off once he shut the door to the car and went back to my place. I took off my makeup and put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants before I sent out the signal to The Institute.

They were here in less than 10 minutes.


	3. The Deal

**Jace POV:**

I couldn't get her out of my head. Yes, it's only been maybe 30 minutes since she dropped me off, but I can't get her out of my head. Her emerald green eyes and blood red hair were haunting my thoughts. All I could think about was her on my lap with her head thrown back, releasing a moan. I needed to go to the local club, Pandemonium, and try to get her out of my head. I took off my tux and put on some black jeans and a leather jacket. I was walking from my room to the living room when I got a phone call.

"Jace," I hear Izzy say urgently the moment I place my phone against my head.

"Wow. No greeting? Well, hello to you too Iz," I say through the phone.

"Jace you need to-"

"Izzy," I jokingly scold her through the phone, "You _know_ not to call me after 8 on a Friday night."

"Yeah, I know, but Jace this is-"

"And it's," I pause to I check the watch on my wrist, "9:30."

"Jace-"

"I'm ashamed Izzy, really. I thought you knew better. I was just about to head out to Pandemonium and-"

"JACE," she shouts through the phone.

"Yeesss," I drawl out, irritating her even more. I hear her grumble ' _Asshole'_ and I laugh.

"Are you done yet? Because we've got an issue," she says exasperatedly.

I feel the joy of irritating Izzy leave my body as she says those words. I quickly grab the keys for my motorcycle and slam my apartment door as I run into the waiting elevator. "Jace," I hear Izzy ask through the phone.

"Yeah, I'm on my way. Just give me a second," I say and put in my earpiece. I press a button and sync my iPhone to the earpiece as the elevator arrives at the garage. I jump onto the bike and pull the helmet on my head before saying, "Go ahead."

"It's about the hacker."

"Did you get him," I ask as I speed out of the parking garage.

"Yes."

I stop at a red light and say, "Then what's the issue? Is he not talking?"

"Nope, _she's_ talking alright. Every sentence is a different language, though. We can't keep up."

The light changes back to green as I realize what Izzy just said. "The hacker is a _girl?!_ "

"Yep, and you know every language. The rest of us know the five common languages besides English that we use on the job."

"In other words, you know: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Chinese."

"Yes, now hurry," she says and hangs up.

~o.O.o.~

Izzy is waiting for me as I run into Headquarters and she rolls her eyes as she takes in my appearance. "What? I told you I was going to Pandemonium?" She turns and starts walking towards the elevators as she gives me a rundown on what happened.

"Well, we were able to trace her computer and got a lock on her location." The elevator arrives and Izzy pushes floor B20. The doors close and we begin our descent. "We sent some of the new field agents to get her and she surrendered immediately. I think she's just the brains and there's someone else who pulls the trigger, but she's making it hard on us. I don't think she speaks any English. She hasn't spoken a word of it to us the entire time. But she has realized the languages we know and stopped speaking them."

The elevator stopped and we got out on the interrogation and holding cell floor. Izzy and I walked down the hall until she stopped in front of Room 13. She opened the door to the control room and I followed her inside the crowded room. Simon, Alec, Director Lightwood, Aline, and Sebastian were all in there with notepads trying to decipher what they wrote to see if they knew what she was saying. "Jace is here," Izzy said abruptly and handed me a handcuff key.

They all looked up at me with a relieved look on their faces and I didn't get a chance to see what this hacker looked like through the one-sided glass before I was in the passageway to the interrogation room. I opened the door and stopped breathing as I was met with the emerald green eyes and blood red hair that haunted my dreams.

She smirked at my shocked expression from the door with a playful look in her eyes. She was sitting in the metal chair facing the glass wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with her hair in a high ponytail and…handcuffs around her wrists resting on the table.

"Wel, helo eto Jace," she spoke in Welsh as she greeted me with 'Well, hello again Jace.' I still had the gaping fish look and started to speak in English when she interrupted me in Scots Gaelic. "Nach urrainn dhuinn Beurla a bhruidhinn?" (Can we not speak English?)

"Tá tú féin? Is tú an hacker a raibh sé dodhéanta a rianú," (It's you? You're the hacker that was impossible to trace) I asked in Irish. She smirked and clapped at my choice to not reply in Gaelic.

"Yes, that's me and can I just say that I am impressed that you speak as many languages as I do," she said in English.

"Ich dachte, du hättest kein Englisch gesagt," (I thought you said no English) I stated in German.

She gave me an irritated smile and spoke Norwegian, "Jeg ville bare la våre lyttere vite at vi kommuniserer ... og irriterer dem." (I just wanted to let our listeners know that we are communicating...and irritate them.)

I walked over to her and sat in the chair across from her. She smirked again and rose her joined hands up. I sighed and pulled the key out of my pocket and unlocked her handcuffs. She smiled at me and rubbed her wrists, murmuring a 'thank you' in Arabic. I noticed the circular bruises on her wrists and felt myself tense and anger rip through my body at the imbeciles who did that to her.

She noticed me staring and said in Dutch, "Het gaat goed met mij. De idioten die me gearresteerd waren, waren een beetje te enthousiast en ruw. Ik heb wel erger gehad." (I'm fine. The idiots who arrested me were a little too excited and rough. I've had worse though.)

I felt my heart beat faster at her last words and my breathing quicken. I tore my gaze from her bruised wrists and looked into her eyes as I spoke Hungarian, "Lehet, hogy itt van egy ideig, mert rengeteg beszélni kell." (We might be here for a while because we have a lot to talk about.)

She smirked and said, "Nej, det gør vi ikke," in Danish which means 'No, we won't.'

I raised an eyebrow in question and asked 'why she says that' in Swedish. "Varför säger du det?"

"Koska aion ryhtyä sopimukseen johtajan Lightwoodin kanssa." (Because I am going to strike a deal with Director Lightwood.) She spoke Finnish and I was about to decline when she said, "Go get him."

"English again?" I joked as I stood up from my chair and she stuck her tongue out at me before I turned and left the room.

In the control room, everyone looked at me in shock and awe. "What," I asked.

Aline was the first to speak. "You kept up with her in conversation and never spoke the same language twice…how?"

I shrugged, "I'm good at languages. Oh, and Director Lightwood, she wants to speak with you." He looked shocked for a split second before he nodded his head and turned to walk into the interrogation room.

After the Director left, everyone turned to look at me with a curious expression. Alec was the first to voice his thought. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah, remember the ball I had to go to so I could try to find her? Well I found her and didn't even realize it."

Sebastian smirked at me and said, "That's the night you had the watch and I was on the other line to try to help you find her. Next thing I know he says that he needs to go and I'm cut off from communication with him. I go to look for him and find him pressing her against the wall with his tongue down her throat. The glare I got from her sent me fucking running. Did you ever finish that?"

I never got to answer because Director Lightwood walked out of the room and ordered Aline, Sebastian, Alec, and Izzy to go home before turning to me and telling me that I was to escort her up to his office to speak about the details of their deal. He left abruptly and I walked into the room to get her.

She stood up and said, "Okay, let's go," before she started to walk past me. I grabbed her arm and her hand quickly grabbed mine, pulling it off of her with strength that I didn't know she possessed.

"Damn. I didn't know you had strength like that, Clary." She looked up at me with confusion in her eyes.

"'Clary'?"

"Yeah, I gave you a nickname. I hope that's okay…." I trailed off and she smiled.

"It's fine…I-I like it actually." I noticed she blushed a little before I escorted her to the Directors office.

~.o.O.o.~

 **Clary POV:**

I don't get it. I haven't acted like this since before my senior year in high school. I'm all flirty and nice and completely lose my ability to control my emotions when I'm around Jace. It's weird to feel vulnerable after 8 years of having walls built up around every part of my being. It needs to stop- "We're here," Jace looks down at me and opens the door for me.

I walk into the office and don't wait for Director Lightwood to tell me to sit. I sit and place my feet on his desk. He groans and I hear Jace stifle a laugh as he shuts the door. "Agent Herondale," Director Lightwood calls him.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Stand against the wall in the back. She's still unpredictable and I don't know if I can trust her or not."

I roll my eyes and receive a glare from the Director before I snark at his comment. "You're right. You shouldn't trust me. I am a weapon honed with lethal abilities that would allow me to kill both of you before you fall from your chair and hit the ground dead. But I won't do that because that would mean that justice wouldn't be served to a man who deserves it like he deserves a hole in his head….which is _quite_ a bit."

"What is so interesting about this man?"

"Well, for starters, he owns every single drug cartel on earth. They aren't single men acting with their own free-will, this man is the one who tells them when, where, how, who, and how to avoid the feds. He does all this in return for 50% of the profits made by the boss men. He also is the head of one of the biggest human trafficking ring in the world. He's rich and has many powerful friends which is why he's untouchable."

Director Lightwood paused and took all this information in before asking, "How do you know all of this?"

I shook my head and said, "He also is very picky about who he hires as assassins and bodyguards…I am the former. He trained me to be an assassin and spy when I was 18. For 3 years, I was his best killer, best spy, and best…agent I guess you could say. I was practically his right-hand man until I realized that I was killing innocent people who were trying to stop him. I argued with him one day and he tried to have me killed and ordered my brother to do it. He was never as good an assassin as I was and he loved me so he helped me fake my death and I've been hiding under various names since. I'm able to pick my kills and I always make sure they're only corrupt people who deserve to die. Trust me now?"

The room was dead silent for 5 minutes before Director Lightwood said, "You're now officially an agent for this company. You'll be promoted to Field Agent Level 6, or FAL6, immediately, which means that you have power to pick your missions like you did when you were employed by yourself. Sign this paperwork and you're in." He slid a paper across the table to me and I speed-read it and signed the agreement.

"Good, tomorrow, you'll come in and go straight to the training center so we can test your abilities and see if there's anything you need help on. This project is fully yours and you can assign anyone you want to work with you. This is a high priority case and you have jurisdiction over a lot of people in the field agent office. You will also be reassigned your living quarters and live with another agent." He flipped through his packet of papers and sighed.

"Well, it looks like everyone has a roommate except for Agent Herondale."

"Why do we need roommates? I do perfectly fine on my own," I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"Because it helps us keep others safe by having someone living with them to assist in any way needed."

"Because I'm a FAL6 do I get to look at Agent Herondales files?" This is a business meeting now. We both have the 'I'm not taking any shit attitude' and it's almost a battle of who is more of a hard ass.

He leaned down and rummaged through a couple of drawers before tossing one file in front of me. "I will also make copies of each field agents file so you can have them on record in your office." He buzzed the intercom to the front desk and said, "Miss Whitewillow, I need you to make copies of every field agent's files for the new employee."

"Of course, Sir," she buzzed back and once I reached for Herondales file I felt Jace tense up behind me. I read the full name and my eyes widened.

 _Jonathan Christopher "Jace" Herondale_

I did a quick read through of his file and discovered that he is an extremely focused person and very dependable in threatening situations.

"Fine," I grumbled and closed the file.

"Then it's settled," he stood up and held out his hand for me to shake it. I stood up and took his hand in a firm grip as he said, "Welcome to the agency Agent…."

"Fairchild," I continued for him.

"Agent Fairchild, it will be a pleasure to work with you."

I removed my hand from his and said, "Likewise, Director."

I turned and walked towards the door when the Director said, "You can pick up the files at the front desk and drop them off at your office tonight. Agent Herondale will assist you."

"Thank you, Sir," I said as I walked out the door with a silent and probably stunned Jace following me. I pressed the call button for the elevator and walked in, pressing the L button, and the doors shut. Jace was still silent and I couldn't take it anymore. "What's up? Why are you so damned silent?"

He looked down at me with his stormy golden eyes that tell me he's contemplating something big and thinking about multiple things. He looked away suddenly and was watching the numbers on the elevator get lower and lower. "Fine, ignore me. That works too asshole," I spat and stalked to the front desk where a busty blonde was sitting. "Kaelie, right?"

"Yeah, what do you want?" she was busy filing her nails and watching the clock to ask Director Lightwood if she was excused because me being interrogated put a damper on her schedule.

"The files," I stated and she looked up at me with her blue eyes and scoffed.

"That's hilarious; now get out of the building."

She was pissing me off now. "I'm not going to ask again, give me the files."

"Look, tiny," she said, "I'm not giving you the files. They're for the new Field Agent Level 6 and not you."

That's when she noticed Jace behind me and squealed. "Jacey! I missed you!" She stood up and walked around the desk to kiss Jace and I felt rage course through my veins as their lips touched. I had two options now; 1. Rip out her hair extensions or 2. Reach over the desk, grab the key to my office, key card, and files.

I went for number 2 and made it inside the elevator before Jace and Kaelie separated. "Clary," Jace shouted just before the doors closed and whisked me up to the 27th floor. God they were irritating and if I have to deal with the blonde bitch again, I'm going to lose it.

I stepped out of the elevator and walked to the far office. It was a huge corner office equipped with a black couch, and large desk with its back to the window. The floors were white marble tiles with a dark grey wall and large wooden doors that matched the desk. I was going to like this office.

I set the stack of files down on my desk and pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was already 10:30 in the evening and I needed to get back to my old apartment and move into Jace's. I turned and locked the door to my office before heading back down the elevator where Kaelie was sitting on the front desk with her hands running up and down Jace's arms. He looked pretty interested before he saw me and stepped away from Kaelie.

"Clary, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine Jace. I'll see you at your place later." I started walking towards the front doors of the building when I heard Kaelie asking Jace what I meant. He started to try to explain when I jumped in and before I opened the doors, I said, "Oh and Kaelie…We've had sex."

I opened the door and as I walked down the street to where I was parked, I heard Kaelie yelling. I smirked and hopped on my black Yamaha motorbike, pulling my black face-covering helmet and shot out of my parking spot like a bat out of hell.

~.o.O.o.~

I jimmied the lock to Jace's apartment since I didn't have a key. I knew he would have an extra bedroom so I've moved everything out of my old apartment and slid a check under my old landlords' door before hightailing to my new apartment. It was now 11:45 and Jace still wasn't back. _Whatever, you don't care who he fucks. You need to focus on bringing Valentine down._

I looked around the apartment and noticed that everything was spotless. There wasn't junk on any surface. I walked into the living room and noticed the white walls with the dark wood flooring. The couch was white and the fixtures were either stainless steel or black wood. The kitchen had white marble counters with black wood as the cabinets and drawers. There was an island in the kitchen too.

I wasn't about to walk in his room because I certainly don't want him walking into mine so I wander the apartment until I come across an office. It looks like it could be big enough for two desks, but I am not about to share with him. I could tell from the first moment that I met him; he's the type of guy to never let you forget anything and be obnoxious about it.

I kept walking and saw two more extra rooms. One was an extra bedroom and the other was a workout room. It had almost every type of machine for every time of muscle. I turned to go back to the living room and saw a fire escape down the side of the building. I knew exactly where I was going if I ever needed to escape. I was in the living room and sitting on the couch watching a movie when Jace came in.

"Really Clary?!" Jace slammed the door as he entered our now shared apartment and looked pissed.

"What? She was being a bitch to me so I returned the favor. Simple."

"NO, not simple. She thought we were exclusive and I just had to deal with a sobbing girl for the past hour!" He glared at me from the door.

"Jace you were gone for two hours…" I crinkled my brow and he smirked at me. "EW! I didn't need to know that!"

"Like you already don't know."

"I get that, but that doesn't mean I want to hear about your other conquests! _Gross."_

"Are you saying that I need to prove to you how good I am again?" He looked at me suggestively and I decided to play along.

"Maybe…" I trailed off and bit my lip as I lowered my gaze. He walked towards me slowly and just as he was about to lean down to kiss me, I jumped off the couch, causing him to stumble and fall back on the couch. I giggled and said, "I don't do guys who have already had another girl less than an hour ago, but I do appreciate the enthusiasm."

I heard him groan as I shut the door to my room and changed into my pajamas before jumping into bed and sleeping like a rock.


	4. The Training Room

**AN: Hey guys! I hope you're enjoying the story! I love the reviews that I've gotten! Thank you so much!**

 **~Miss-Ashwright**

 **Clary POV:**

I woke up at 6 like I do every morning. No alarm clock, just my trained body telling up at this time. I've been waking up at 6 since my freshman year of high school. _God that was 11 years ago._ My thoughts of freshman year bring back memories I'd like to forget…

I broke out of my trance when I heard a squeak outside my door. I slowly stood up and pulled the knife from the side of my nightstand. I walked silently to the door and threw it open quickly, dagger at the ready. "Jesus!" Jace shouted and caught my arm.

I didn't lower my blade and glared at him, "What the hell are you doing?"

He smirked, "Oh I just wanted to let you know that after you sign the contract with the agency, you'll be going downstairs to train with the newbie's."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I know genius."

His smirk got wider as he said, "Well, did you know that I've been tasked with training them for a month?"

The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning. I sighed heavily and lowered my arm. _He was the blonde dude that I saw take down that idiot in the training room. This should be interesting._ I looked up into his golden eyes and said in all seriousness, "Don't take it easy on me today."

"I'll try not to." He looked down at me and leaned against the edge of my door, looking into my room. "Do you like art?"

I turned around and saw that he was looking at my easel and canvas with drying oil paint on it. He pushed past me and walked into my room. "Really, Jace? I don't walk into your room without asking do I?"

"Sorry," he said and then ruined it by saying, "Hey, Clary can I come in your room and look at your art? Thanks for saying I could." I couldn't get a word in and huffed in annoyance as he turned and smirked at me over his shoulder.

He looked at the canvas that I had already hung up in my room and said, "You're talented…Why didn't you pursue art as a career? You totally could have."

I felt the words coming out of my mouth before I could stop them, "Because I wanted to make my father happy and become the best."

He turned to look at me, "The best…?"

"The best assassin dingus," I responded with sass. He smirked and grabbed my sketchbook off the desk. He began to flip through it before I could stop him. He stopped at one of my most recent drawings. His eyes widened and looked up at me.

"Is this yesterday's car escapade?" He turned the drawing around as he said this. I looked at the drawing and nodded my head slowly. It was a drawing of the passenger side of my car. The rear window had a shirt and tux hanging on the back of the seat and the front window of the car….it had a pretty accurate drawing of us. I was sitting on his lap with my bare chest pressed against his as our lips seemed to be meeting with passionate force. You could see the dress was bunched up around my waist and I was a little higher than he was, implying _something else_ going on behind the door of the car.

I felt myself blush and pulled it out of his hands. We stood there for a couple of seconds in silence. I was looking at the ground with the sketchbook pressed against my chest and he was looking at me. I shook myself out of the momentary void of thoughts and dropped my sketchbook on my bed. "Well, I have to get dressed so you need to leave."

Jace's gaze on me changed from something unreadable to humor and smirked. "Do I really need to leave? I've already seen you naked once…why can't I see you again?" His eyes had an evil glint to them and he sat on my bed. He lay back with both arms behind his head and gave me the 'go on' look.

I smirked and reached down to hem of my shirt and lifted it over my head without hesitation. I don't sleep with a bra on so the moment my shirt hit the floor, Jace sat up and his eyes widened. I reached up and took my hair out of the messy bun I slept in and let my fingers slowly glide down my body to my shorts. I simultaneously pulled down my panties and shorts and stepped out of them.

I was fully naked and looked at Jace sitting on my bed. His eyes were raking up and down my body, taking everything in. I walked towards him and I could hear his breathing get louder the closer I got. My smirk widened as I neared him and instead of touching him, I leaned down next to him and opened a drawer in my night stand, pulling out a lacy bra and matching panties. I stepped away from him and headed towards my closet, grabbing some clothes for work and sauntered into my bathroom.

I heard him groan in frustration before the door shut and I laughed.

~.o.O.o.~

 **Jace POV:**

Clary wasn't ready to go to work so I left without her. I was still thinking about her shamelessly stripping in front of me this morning. I'm not going to lie, that turned me on a bit, but who wouldn't! A fit woman taking her clothes off in front of you? I mean come on! I expected her to freeze and kick me out of the room, but she keeps surprising me. I was on my motorcycle and a block away from the parking garage when all of a sudden, a black motorbike shot past me.

I was shocked that person pasted me so I sped up to try to catch them. I was on their tail when they sped up and turned into the parking garage. I parked a couple spaces away from them and saw that it was a girl because of what she was wearing.

Black wedges, leather pants, and a leather jacket. Her helmet was still on so I couldn't see who she was until she took her helmet off and her long red hair tumbled down her back. "Clary?" I was stunned. I didn't know she had a motorbike.

She swung her leg over the bike and smirked when she faced me again. "Yes, Jace?"

I was letting my eyes rake up and down her body slowly. Her clothes left nothing to the imagination. She tilted her head to the side which caused me to look at her face. She wasn't wearing any makeup and I saw her eyes run up and down my body before she turned and grabbed a bag on the back of her bike.

She started to walk towards the exit to the garage and I stood there for a bit, checking her ass out before she stopped and turned around to look at me. "Hey, asshole? You ever going to move, and here's a bright idea, _stop_ checking out my ass before I kick yours in the training room."

That statement stunned me and made me walk after her to The Institute. I followed her from a distance and saw that I wasn't the only guy who thought to check her out. One guy actually made a move to grab her butt and she caught his wrist and glared at him before he could touch her. I was going to step in when she twisted his arm and made him cry out in pain as he hit the floor.

" _Don't ever try that again…Not to me or anyone else who doesn't want you touching them. Got it?"_ She sounded pissed and he nodded his head furiously before she dropped his wrist and kept walking as if nothing happened.

I haven't seen anyone that attuned to what's going on around them. She knew his movement before his hand even got close to her. It was impressive. I walked past the guy still on the ground and he was still in shock.

In the building, I saw the security guards stopping Clary and checking her bag. Once the guy opened her bag he glanced up at her before she said, "I'm the new Field Agent. I suggest you let me go."

He paled, zipped up her bag, and then stepped back to let her walk through. I flashed him my card and he didn't even bother to stop me.

I met Clary at the elevator and we were the only two in there. "What was that about?" I asked her as I pressed the button for the 27th floor. She unzipped her bag and I saw workout clothes, daggers, and handguns. "What is all this for?"

She shrugged, "You never know when I'll need to defend myself in the office and I don't like the agency issued shit. It always sucks."

I laughed and agreed with her. "Well I'll see you at 10:00 for your evaluation session. Don't be late."

~.o.O.o.~

"Okay, line up!" The eight trainees quickly assembled into a line and were waiting for my instructions. "Today, we have a guest joining us. She is a new agent here and we are going to test her abilities to see if she's proper field agent material. I want you to treat her with respect since she will be with us for the rest of the day today. This means that I will treat her like you too. Since she's late she will have the same punishment as the rest of you do."

Just as I finished my sentence I heard the doors to the training room open and saw some of the guys widen their eyes at the sight of her. "How nice of you to join us Agent Fairchild," I said and turned to face her, glaring. I felt my eyes widen immediately when I saw her hair pulled back with a black sports bra and matching legging on. It certainly wasn't protocol for what to wear, but I wouldn't mind seeing her like this for the rest of the day.

Then I remembered her punishment and smirked.

 **Clary POV:**

I had a smirk on my face as I rode down the elevator to the training room in silence. The elevator signaled my arrival to the training floor with a cheery ' _ding'_ and I walked out into the gloomy hallway. The hallway was short with double doors leading to the training room. I pushed open both doors and saw all the trainees standing in a line with their backs straight and hands clasped together behind them.

"How nice of you to join us Agent Fairchild," Jace's back was to me and his tone was sarcastic. _I wasn't that late! Maybe like 10 minutes but I was busy putting up my hair and stretching!_ He turned to face me and his glare turned into wide eyes as he let his gaze drift up and down my body. I smirked when his eyes reached mine and walked over to a bare wall and put my bag down. It landed with a soft rattle of metal against metal before I turned around and walked back to the line of trainees.

Jace cleared his throat with a smirk, "Agent Fairchild."

"Yes," I raised one eyebrow.

"Seeing as your late," his eyes ran up and down me again, "You will have the same punishment as the trainees do." I looked at them and glared at the boys who were checking me out and the girls who were glaring at me because I seemed to have Jace's attention. The guys turned away when they saw my glare and the girls stood up a little taller and smirked when Jace said ' _punishment.'_

"I wouldn't expect it any other way," I challenged him. His eyebrows rose to his hairline at my tone. He stepped up to me so we were face to face…or face to chest since I'm a foot shorter than him.

"In this room, respect is something that is expected to happen and if it isn't, the offending person will be punished accordingly."

"Then punish me," his eyes flared at the double meaning behind my words and pointed behind him to the long rope reaching up to the rafters of the enormous room. It was at least 100 feet up and there was a balcony next to it.

"You have to climb this rope. The class will meet you up there by taking the stairs and watch you climb the rope. The record for climbing the rope is 50 minutes. That's 2 feet per minute." The trainees began to run up the stairs, already knowing what they needed to do. His eyes were still hard as he looked down at me. "If you beat this record, you'll get to go head to head against the top trainee who is currently setting all the records for this squad. He is a cocky bastard who doesn't like to bend for the rules; he prefers the rules to bend for him."

I nodded my head and began to walk towards my bag when Jace grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. "I have to go hard on you today Clary. Just do me a favor and kick his ass. Show him that you have to follow rules when it comes to training. I've tried to and we've gotten into fights before. If there's one person who can whip his ass back in line, it's you."

I nodded my head and saw him turn and walk up the stairs. I leaned down and grabbed my gloves out of my bag and walked to stand at the corner of the room. I stood silent and was thankful that I've kept up my training, even without the proper equipment and got into my zone.

I shut my eyes and let my body feel everything around it. I felt where the rope was, I heard the sounds of the trainees voices doubting me and focused on one thing; the rope. I opened my eyes and focused on the rope and my destination. I looked up at the balcony next to the top of the rope and saw Jace standing there. He was looking down at me and shouted, "Ready?"

I crouched down and got ready to run when he shouted, "GO!"

I shot off like a bullet towards the rope and jumped a good 5 feet up it. The rope swayed with my force and I began to pull myself up. I wrapped my legs around the rope and used it as leverage to hold myself up and I reached up as far as I could and pulled. The father I went up the rope, the better I felt. I had a small smile on my face as my achy muscles began to work harder at the familiarity of this exercise and a burst of speed sent me up the rope faster.

I saw the bar that the rope was tied to and kept pulling myself up higher and higher until I grabbed the bar with my hands and pulled myself up on the rafter barely wide enough for my feet to be standing on. I was barely breathing hard and turned to look at the balcony below me with a smirk.

The trainees looked shocked and Jace looked impressed and proud. I glanced to his right and saw the trainee who looked like trouble. He was glaring at me with pure hatred and I winked at him as Jace read my time. "You made it up that rope in 4 minutes flat…that's 25 feet per minute."

I smirked again and Jace ordered the other trainees down the stairs before he leaned on the rails and looked up at me. "How can you do that?"

I smiled sadly, "I already told you. I was the best assassin ever trained by my father until I disobeyed him and he tried to have my own brother kill me." I paused after I said that, realizing my mistake. I felt my eyes widen in panic as I saw Jace's reaction.

His eyes were as wide as they could get and he was rigid. He slowly began to back up when I jumped onto the balcony soundlessly. "Jace," I said cautiously. He stopped walking as what I said registered and his gaze hardened. "It's not what you think," I said.

" _It's not what I think? How is it not what I think?"_ He spoke lowly with anger lacing his tone.

"Jace," I said again, "You have to calm down if you want me to tell you the truth."

He said dangerously, "You're still working for him aren't you?"

"No, Jace this is what I meant by saying that you needed to calm down. You're going to make assumptions that aren't true and do something you'll regret."

"You're a traitor! And to think that I had sex with you when you were using me to get in this building! _You who-"_

"Oh my god! I am _done_ listening to you _bitch_ about something that's not even true! Now _shut up_ and listen to me or finish that sentence and I'll kick your ass down stairs in front of all the trainees and send you to the infirmary with a broken _everything!"_

He was silent for a second before he glared at me and hissed out, "You have _two words_ to make me believe you!"

I returned his glare and said, "Other agencies."

"What?"

"I went to other agencies," I spat out at him, "Everything I said last night to the Director was true! I realized that my father's business was bad and I was killing the good guys instead of the bad like I believed I was! I tried to go to _five_ other agencies and they all thought the same thing as you! That I'm a spy who is trying to take down the agency from the inside! This all happened _after_ I told them I was his _daughter!_ I _want_ to take him down, I _want_ him to stop taking young girls from their homes and forcing them to have sex with whoever will pay, I _want_ him to pay for everything he's done to _me, my mother; everyone!_ So go ahead, arrest me! I'll just escape and find another agency to help me kill him like I have before!"

He stood before me in silence and I scoffed and rolled my eyes before jumping back on the rope and saying, "Oh, and you're the only agent I've slept with while trying to get into another agency." I saw his eyes widen before I let myself slide down the rope effortlessly.

Once my feet hit the floor, I turned on my heel and made a beeline for my bag. Just as I was bending down to pick it up, I felt a presence behind me and my skin prickled. I turned quickly and landed a foot to his chest, sending him back a few paces until he stumbled and fell to the ground. It was the trouble maker. He sent me a glare from the floor and stood up, brushing his shoulder off. "You're going to regret that bitch," he stalked towards me slowly.

I knew I had a wall to my back and went back into my zone. I saw him reach a hand out and grab my wrist, pulling me to him as he squeezed it with a bone crushing force. He lowered his face next to mine and I warned him lowly, "Don't do this. I'm already pissed off enough and I'm pretty sure you don't want to become a human punching bag."

He growled at this and I felt his fingers tighten enough to break my wrist before I raised my knee quickly and hit him in between his legs. He groaned and fell to the floor before I landed on top of him and sent a punch home to his face. I felt a crack beneath my hand and knew I broke his jaw. He cried out in pain and I felt a movement to my right before I was tackled off of him.

A hand went up and began to pull my hair when I used my feet and pushed the other guy off of me, sending him to the floor with a sickening crack. I rolled to my feet and dodged a punch from another guy before I barreled into his chest and sent him to the floor. I pulled my fist back again and left him a nice black eye for tomorrow.

I stood up and glared at the other trainees around me, daring them to try anything on me. They all stepped back and scattered at the sound of Jace's voice. I looked over at him and saw him drop down from the rope. I rolled my eyes and made my way over to my bag that was still on the floor. I picked it up and began to walk towards the door.

"Agent Fairchild? Where do you think you're going? You still have more training to do." I turned around and looked at Jace standing in between the groaning guys on the floor. He ordered the others standing around to get them to the infirmary. They quickly picked them up and carried them out of the room, leaving me and Jace alone.

We were staring at each other and smiled a bit before letting my bag drop off my shoulder and fall into my waiting hand. "So, you're not going to tell?"

He shook his head and walked forward to grab my bag. I let him take it and we walked over to the door on the other side of the training room. The door opened and showed a shooting range with targets at far distances and some at a shorter range. "I won't tell," he said, "Your father needs to have revenge brought down on him by his redheaded firecracker of a daughter."

I smiled and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Thanks for not saying anything."

He nodded his head and set my bag down on the table in the back of the room. "Now I know you're good at kicking ass with your bare hands so let's see how you are with weapons."

I moved towards the table as the other trainees who weren't injured walked into the room. They went to a station and put on their ear muffs and shooting glasses while picking up a handgun on the way there. I pulled my .22 out of my bag and walked over to a station of my own. I had my glasses on and one custom ear plug in when Jace said, "I'm expecting story time later so I know how you got roped into this."

I let a little laugh out and put in the other plug before saying, "I would expect nothing less from you." He pulled his glasses and ear muffs on and turned off the red light symbolizing ' _don't shoot'_ and I winked at him before pulling the trigger and forming a hole in the center of the target.


	5. The Dreams

"I'm still waiting for that story," Jace poked me in the shoulder as I sat down next to him. We ordered take out and while we were waiting I jumped in the shower. This is why my sopping wet red hair is air drying down my back and I'm in an old t-shirt and shorts. I glanced at Jace from the corner of my eye and shook my head.

"Not, yet. Let me eat so I can recover from my awesome training session today!" I gloated. He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Clary, we both know that you have dead on accuracy with guns, bows, and knives, and that you can kick ass like you were born to do it."

I giggled as he said this. He lost a bet when he said that I couldn't hit the bulls-eye with a weapon repetitively. I hit the same spot every time I shot a gun, robin-hooded arrows like it was my job, and broke a lot of agency issued knives because I kept hitting the handle in the same place and ended up stacking the knives so they stuck out from the target.

"So I have a mission to take down one of the drug lords in the city with Alec, and Izzy tomorrow."

"I know, I put you on the mission together and Director Lightwood put the cocky trainee bastard on the team too. I fought him on it but he did it anyway."

Jace groaned, "Why can't you come on this mission? I want to see you in action!"

I raised an eyebrow and felt my cheeks redden a bit as Jace stuttered and said, "I-I didn't mean it like that! I just-" he lowered his gaze to his food and I saw the tips of his ears get a little pink.

"I'm going on a mission tomorrow that I gave myself. It's regarding my father and my brother."

He looked up and me and threaded his eyebrows together in confusion. "You're going by yourself?"

"Yes, Jace I can handle myself."

"Director Lightwood won't like that."

"Does it look like I give a fuck what he thinks?" I pointed to my face and Jace laughed a bit before he shook his head. "I'm tired from today so I'm going to go to bed now. See you tomorrow Jace," I said as I got up from the chair and threw out my empty food container.

He had a knowing look on his face. "You tense up every time I bring it up. You can tell me when you're ready."

I nodded my head and walked back into my room silently. I slipped under my covers and saw that it was only 9:00. I groaned and closed my eyes, still thinking of my father…which is why he haunted my dream.

" _Dad," I shout as I burst through the front door. "Yeah," I hear his distant response from the office. I turn to my left and sprint through the house towards him, not caring about taking off my shoes by the front door or dropping my messenger bag by my room. By the time I get to the office, my dark red hair has fallen into my face._

" _Clarissa," my father addresses me from a sitting position at his mahogany desk as I pull the hair band from my wrist and tie my hair into a ponytail, "what have I told you about putting your hair back so you could watch your surroundings better? And didn't your mother tell you to take off your shoes at the door?"_

" _Sorry dad," I say excitedly," but today was the day at school when we go around and look at all the clubs we can join! My goal was to join the HotShots club and I did! The informational meeting is this Wednesday and-"_

" _Clarissa, slow down," he laughs as he cuts me off, "Let's start from 'what is HotShots?' and then go from there."_

" _Oh. HotShots is the club where we can do competitive shooting. I signed up for the club so I could be like you dad! The informational meeting for parents and students is next Wednesday and practices at the shooting range will be four times a month for about 2 hours. Can I do it?!"_

 _He looks thoughtful for a minute and then his computer dings. "One moment please," he says as he opens up the email. I stand at the door and then take my messenger bag off and place it on the floor next to me. I sit on the floor and take off my shoes just as he finishes reading the email. I stand and he looks at me like he's contemplating something._

" _What was that about?"_

" _Work," he glances at the computer in front of him again and then looks up at me and says, "You can do HotShots, Clarissa." My response to him is a face-splitting grin and I rush around his desk to hug him._

" _Thank you so much dad!" I smile as I release him and then his phone rings._

 _He sighs and answers it, saying, "I'll be with you in a minute." He turns to look back at me and says, "I'll talk to you later about what we will do concerning HotShots." I nod my head and make my way over to where my bag and shoes are sitting by the door. As I leave the room, I hear him answer the phone as he always does: "This is Valentine Morgenstern."_

~.o.O.o.~

 _It was the day of the meeting and I was anxiously waiting for my dad to get home from his business trip to Los Angeles. He had to leave Friday but he said he'd be back today and now I was sitting by the front door waiting for him to get home so we could go. I was sitting next to the front door with my sketchbook on my lap drawing what the entrance to our house looks like._

 _Just as I was finishing up the chandelier that hung in between the two staircases I heard the key being put in the lock. I could hear my dad through the front door talking to someone on his phone. "No, it will work. She's eager to please me and will be the best out there. She already speaks multiple languages and has amazing hearing and eyesight."_

 _As he opened the front door he ended his phone call and I jumped up to give him a hug. "Hi, dad! How was your trip? Are you ready to go to the meeting?"_

" _Let's go Clarissa," he laughed and dropped his bag where I was just sitting. He grabs his car keys from the bowl sitting on the small mahogany table by the door and we walked out the door. I jumped into the passenger seat of his Mercedes and we drove off. As we were driving, he got another phone call. He put headphones in at a red light and I wasn't paying attention to his conversation since I knew it was business for…whatever he did. All I know is that because of his job, we were loaded._

 _As my thoughts drifted off, I thought back to the conversation he had outside the front door. She already speaks multiple languages and has amazing hearing and eyesight. I speak a lot of languages and last time I went to the doctors they said I had amazing eyesight. 20/10. I have amazing hearing too. Was he talking about me?_

~.o.O.o.~

 _After the meeting, dad and I went to a fancy restaurant to get food because he hasn't eaten since 10 AM. "So, I think I'm going to sign up for the club. What do you think dad?"_

" _I think you should do both parts of the club, Clarissa. You never know when archery could come in handy also," he said as he pulled the official papers for signing up out of his coat pocket. He was still in a suit from earlier because he 'has a reputation to maintain' as he put it once._

" _I trust your opinion dad. I'll sign up for both," I said and I noticed a small smirk cross his lips before he cleared his face of any expression and started to fill out the documents. He finished quickly and passed the papers to me. I signed on the dotted line and looked up to see his face in such an evil grin that it chilled me to my bones._

" _So how was your trip dad," I asked since I never got a response from him earlier. His face darkens when he hears the word 'dad' and says, "It was fine Clarissa, but I would appreciate it if you called me 'father.' There is more respect to the word 'father' than there is to 'dad.'"_

 _I looked at him with a shocked expression on my face. Then his phone rings again and when he answers it, I hear the man on the other line ask, "Did she sign up for both?"_

" _Yes," my father responds_

~.o.O.o.~

" _Clarissa," my father began, "Why do you want to leave?"_

" _Because what you're doing is wrong!" I defiantly stared him down. His coal black eyes stared into my soul and I felt myself shake._

" _We've been over this Clarissa, it's not wrong. It's how I kept you and your mother safe."_

" _You're not keeping anyone safe! You're threatening the lives of millions of people! You didn't even keep me safe!"_

" _Clarissa," his voice was stern, "Enough."_

" _No!"_

" _Clarissa, if you don't shut up now you will force me to do something that I will regret only for a moment if it means you'll return to being my assassin."_

" _I won't do it! You're a selfish bastard who only thinks about the end price and that's all that matters! Not me, not Jon, and not mom!"_

 _He glared at me from behind his desk. "Then you leave me no choice." He pressed a button on his desk and in they came. A bag was over the middle persons head but I still recognized her._

" _Mom?"_

 _Before she could answer me, a gunshot rang out. Silencing the world except for my ear splitting scream._

~.o.O.o.~

I woke up from my dreams with a scream. I sat up in my bed and felt tears streaming down my face. This hasn't happened in a long time. I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest and let my tears flow.

"Clary," I heard Jace's worried voice from my doorway and kept my head buried in my legs, quieting down my tears the best I could. I didn't even notice that Jace moved from the doorway until I felt the bed move and his arms wrap around me. I cried even harder and he continued to hold me until my tears were gone.

I sighed and picked my head up to look at the clock. It was midnight. I was too ashamed to look at Jace so I kept my gaze anywhere but him. "Clary," Jace spoke for the first time since asking worriedly from my door way. I still didn't look at him and then felt his hand gently touching my chin, pulling my reluctant gaze to his.

"What happened?" I swallowed hard as I saw the concern in his golden eyes. I broke down again and told him everything that happened in my dreams…my memories. He just sat and listened to me cry and tell my story when I could manage. In the end, when I got to my mother's death, he held me tighter as the tears streamed down my cheeks constantly.

We sat in silence until I asked Jace what he was doing up so late.

"I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to a scream." I lowered my gaze a blushed a bit, apologizing for waking him up.

"It's fine Clary; I'd rather spend my nights like this than worrying about you."

"You worry about me?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, I mean you've probably seen things I can't even imagine." I lowered my gaze again. Nobody has ever seen me like this. I won't allow it.

Jace just sat there for a couple minutes before he noticed the small bag I had packed in the corner of the room. "What's that for?"

"My trip. I'll be gone for one week. I'll call to see how the mission went though." I stood up out of his arms and walked to my closet. I quickly threw on some clothes, not caring that Jace was there.

"What are you doing?"

I felt a flutter in my heart as he asked and quickly explained, "The longer I stay here, the more women Valentine kidnaps and forces to become slaves. I need to leave now." I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door before Jace could stop me. I rushed to my car and jumped in before driving away quickly. It would be a three day drive there and back. I needed these three hours to think about this feeling in the bottom my stomach. It wasn't one of nervousness for Jace's mission, it was a feeling that something bad was going to happen…and I didn't know what to do about it. I'm normally wrong though. Maybe it is nerves.

I let my thoughts turn to the meeting I had in four days and continued driving.

~.o.O.o.~

 **Four days later**

"Hello," I answered my phone.

"Clarissa? This is Tessa from the infirmary at The Institute."

A pit of dread opened up in my stomach. "Yes?"

She paused a minute before sighing, "The mission didn't go well."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean, Clarissa is that Jace, your roommate is in a medically induced coma because of his injuries sustained during the mission."

"Shit," I felt all the breath leave my body and heard her begin to tell me about the state of Alec and Izzy and that the trainee is missing. When she stopped telling me about their current state I realized that I was crouched down on the hotel's lobby floor and I had a very concerned person looking at me. I shook my head and stood up quickly before stalking towards my hotel room and grabbing my bag.

"So let me get this straight," I paused, "Alec and Izzy are fine except for a couple bruises, Jace in a coma, and the asshole newbie is MIA?"

"Yes," she said simply.

"Fuck, we had a mole. It was the newbie. Keep me posted on Jace and I'll handle this. Keep this a secret for now. I don't want the Director to send out a team just to get slaughtered."

She immediately understood and hung up. I checked out of the hotel and started on my journey home.

~.o.O.o.~

 **Three days later**

I was pissed. I just had three days of driving to think about every plan and placement of guard in that fucking warehouse that injured Jace, Alec, and Izzy. I pulled my car over when I was 30 minutes away from the building and changed into my mission clothes. This basically means tight fitting black clothes that give me protection but still allow me to have full movement. I strapped on a sniper rifle, 4 pistols, 8 cartridges to refill the guns, and 6 knives. I also had an extra pair of clothes sitting in the seat next to me because I knew I'd be bloody.

I drove in complete silence save for the hum of the motor as I sped down the streets. I pulled my hair back into a braid and parked the car in front of the ware house. I set off an explosion on the other side of the building and every guard went to investigate, which gave me time to get out of the car and get into position.

I was on high ground and had a perfect view of the entrance to the warehouse with the right amount of cover. The guards slowly began to notice the car ad one by one I took them down. After getting rid of the external guards I went around back and broke a lock. I silently made my way along the upper parts of the building until I saw the rest of the guards. They were surrounded by mountains of drugs.

I took my shots and they dropped like flies. The drug lord came out of his office and guess who followed him. _The_ _little rat._ That bastard who's ass I kicked. I took my headshot on the drug lord and once he dropped I stood and revealed myself to the bastard.

"Oh, it's you," he said.

"Yeah it's me you asshole." He glared at me.

"Who else is with you?"

I smirked, "Nobody." His eyes widened as he looked thoughtful and then realized what I'd done.

"You killed them all?!"

I popped the clips out of my pistols and put them back in my holsters. "This is what I've been trained to do. Take down an entire army single handedly."

He charged at me and I fell. The floor was slick with blood and I could feel it seeping into my clothes and hair. He tried to reach his hands around my throat and I kicked him forward with my knees, wrapped my arm around his and flipped him onto his back.

He landed with a thud and I landed a punch to his face. He reached down and I felt him trying to get one of my knives out of my holsters. I swung my leg over his shoulder and pushed his head away and stood up as fast as I could without slipping again.

He stood up too and had a knife from another guard in his hand. I pulled one of mine out and ducked his before throwing mine and letting it find its home in his shoulder. I grabbed another and it hit his knee. He was clutching his shoulder as he kneeled before me on the ground. I spun and landed a kick to the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground.

I pulled the .22 out of my holster and knew that it had one bullet left in it. "Who are you," he asked as I raised my gun to point at his head.

I smirked and said, "I am Clarissa Adele Morgenstern. Daughter of Valentine Morgenstern, the most feared man in the underground world and intimidating man in the world of politicians." I saw his eyes widen before I pulled the trigger and the bullet hit its mark.

I lowered my hands and pulled the gun back into my holster as I turned and left the building. I stopped at my car and cleaned off the blood the best I could, but I knew that a shower would be the only thing to get all this off of me. I couldn't wait to get home and shower…

Home… _Shit Jace!_ I pulled out my phone and began to dial Tessa.


	6. The Leverage

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter. I didn't really know how to end it but I certainly know how the next chapters going to go…*insert evil smirk here***

 **~Miss-Ashwright**

"Tessa," I said once she picked up the phone.

"Oh, hey Clarissa."

"How's Jace," I asked quickly.

There was silence on the other end of the phone before she said, "I'm so sorry, but he woke up three days ago-"

"Oh that's great! But why did you say 'I'm sorry'?" My heart rate picked up.

"It's just that he's now in the Directors office and he's going to be fired because of the mission…"

"WHAT?" I jumped in my dodge and shot off. "What do you mean he's going to be fired?"

"Well, because the rookie they had with them is currently missing, the Director is going to blame it on him rather than his own children."

"How long do I have?" I was ignoring all traffic laws and running through red lights and over curbs to avoid traffic and get to The Institute faster.

"He just went up there now."

"Thanks Tessa," I said before I turned off the call and slammed my foot on the gas.

~.o.O.o.~

I parked my car in the underground parking garage and ran up the ramp to get to the street. I ran down the sidewalk until I reached the building and yanked open the doors, not stopping my running for a second. "Hey," a guard yelled at me and I ignored him before I slid into an elevator that was about to close. One slid a hand in between the almost shut doors and they opened.

The guy grabbed me and pulled me out of the elevator. He had me by my waist with my arms locked down by my side. The other guy ran over and grabbed my legs, preventing me from using my legs against the guy who had my arms. I still had all of my weapons and was still covered in blood since I just came from a kill. Next thing I know, I had handcuffs around my wrists and ankles.

I struggled in their grip before I saw the elevator doors close and start their ascent. I screamed in frustration and went back into my zone. I slowed my heart rate down and stopped moving for a split second before I threw my head back against the guy behind me and heard a crack as I broke his nose.

He released his grip on me and I was falling to the hard ground with my legs still being held by the other guy. I curled my body and pushed away hard, releasing his grip of my legs. I turned my body quickly and rolled once I hit the ground. I was kneeling on the ground with my hands and ankles still bound. The guard looked shocked. His friend had gotten over the pain of his nose and stood up with blood running down his face.

My hands were still behind my back when I dislocated my thumb. I didn't make a sound as I did this and slid my hand out of the hand cuff. I put it back in its rightful place and glared at the guards who were slowing me down from getting to Jace in time to prevent him from being fired. I stood and tried to gain my balance the best I could when one of the guards grabbed me from behind again. His grip was lower this time and I swung my body up and wrapped my legs around his neck before I twisted my body again and threw him to the ground.

I crawled over to him and took the keys off of his belt. I unbound my feet and took off the hand cuff that was still on my left wrist. I stood quickly and saw I was surrounded on all sides. They all had guns raised and I slowly lifted my hands above my head. One guy came from behind and he grabbed my arms and placed them behind my back while another in front of me walked closer. I used all of my strength and before the guy behind me could get more cuffs on; I pulled myself up and kicked the guy in front of me in the chest.

He fell back hard and the guy behind me got an elbow to the face which caused him to lose his balance too. I couched down and swiped the legs out from underneath the remaining men standing. They all fell to the ground and a couple shots rang out from the men whose fingers had slipped on the trigger. I looked around and saw that all shots had landed in the ceiling. I jumped up and sprinted towards the staircase.

The guards were still getting up by the time I made it in the stairwell and ran up 32 flights of stairs until I opened the door and ran through the floor until I got to Director Lightwoods office. His secretary tried to stop me but one glare made her silent.

"No one is getting fired today," I growled as I burst through the doors to Director's office. Not caring as they slammed behind me. My heart rate began to beat faster as Jace turned around in the chair to look at me. He had a shocked expression when he saw that I was covered in blood and one glance from me told him that I was okay. He looked like he was all healed. I looked next to Jace and saw Alec and Izzy sitting there in about the same condition as him. All okay.

Then I saw Director Lightwood sitting behind the desk with a glare on his face. "Excuse me, but you're not supposed to be in here! This is a private meeting!" he pointed to the door behind me as he shouted. He glared at me and it didn't even cause me to blink. I stalked towards his desk with my fists clenched at my sides.

"You're not firing anyone in this room today," I spoke with authority. His head shifted back a bit at the sheer power behind my words. I stopped at his desk, standing next to Jace and slammed my still bloodied hands down on the table, making everyone jump. I was _beyond_ pissed. "Who were you going to fire? Hmm? Not your kids, never. You were going for Jace and needed them in here to contain him if they had to."

Izzy and Alec looked shocked at this statement and turned to face their father. "Is it true, dad," Izzy asked him quietly. He nodded his head silently and I heard them suck in a sharp breath. I glanced to Jace and saw how tense he was. I knew he was thinking and stepped in before anything else happened in this room.

"Tell Izzy and Alec to leave," I commanded. Director Lightwood's eyes shot up to mine and glared before he bared his teeth.

"No."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Well nobody is going to be fired today so they can stay if you want them to."

"Jace will be fired because of the mission he was on and _you'll_ be fired and _arrested_ for hacking the computer system and for barging into my office uninvited." He looked stern and angry at me.

"No. That's not going to happen because I have something over you."

He scoffed, "You? You have something over me?" He began to laugh and then stopped abruptly before asking, "Then what is it?"

I crossed my arms and stood up straight as I smirked, "I'm not going to say it out loud unless Alec and Izzy leave. It's something they don't have to know about yet."

"That just proves that you have nothing over me." He sounded prideful before I lowered my voice into a dangerous tone.

"Dare me."

"What?"

"I want you to dare me to say what I have over you." I kept my head held high and knew I wasn't going to lose this battle.

"Fine," he spat, "I _dare you."_

I smirked and rattled off a phone number. His face dropped and his eyes widened before he told Alec and Izzy to leave the room. "How did you find out about that?"

"I did a little digging," I said, "It's always nice to have something over someone so you can use it in any situation. All I had to do was look at phone records and search up that number to find out it came from a woman by the name of 'Carol.' I then looked at bank records and found similar purchases and concluded that you were cheating with her on Alec and Izzy's mother."

He looked thoughtful and Jace looked at me with wide eyes as I stated this. "Not only is that a fact, but in case you can't tell, I just finished up their mission and who did I see? I saw the little snitch. That 'missing' rookie, Thomas, was giving tips to the other side. You won't have to worry about him anymore though."

He looked up at me curiously as he took in my bloodied appearance. I put the pieces together for him, "He now has a bullet between his eyes in the middle of the warehouse floor, surrounded by all the other drug lords' workers. And the drug lord himself, is currently amidst the other bodies."

He gulped a little bit at the way my tone hadn't changed from the threatening tone I used the moment o stormed into the room.

"Fine, you and Jace won't be fired."

"And I want a pardon for what happened in the lobby."

"What happened in the lobby?"

I smirked, "I may or may not have just taken down half of your security guards and outran them in less than 5 minutes…Do I get a pardon?"

He nodded his head and said, "Yes."

I smirked again and grabbed Jace's arm before pulling him up from his seat and walking out of the office. Jace was silent as I called the elevator and raised one eyebrow at me when he saw the secretary blanch at the sight of me. I shrugged my shoulders and we rode down to the lobby in silence.

The ding of the elevator occurred 2 minutes later and I stalked out with my head held high as I walked through the continually groaning guards on the floor. Jace followed quickly and quietly. Only when we were outside my car did he say something.

"You did all that?"

"To the guards?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I have done that?"

He said nothing as he got in the car and I drove us to the apartment. We sat in silence until I asked him, "So, you're all healed from your injuries?"

"Yeah, Tessa gave the all clear so I'm okay to do whatever I want now."

"Good," I said and then Jace's phone rang.

"Hey, Izzy," he answered. They had a short conversation where Jace filled her in on everything…well, almost everything that happened in her dads' office.

"Izzy wants to go to Pandemonium tonight to forget what happened recently. You game?" I glance over at Jace and see he's still on the phone with Izzy. I don't really know her or Alec that well so why not?

"Sure," I reply and then focus back on driving again. I kept driving and it was harder to focus than normal as I heard Jace's deep laugh that sent chills down my bones.

I parked the car in front of the apartment building and Jace hung up before we got into the elevator to take us up. "So…." He began.

"What?" I asked.

"You're basically covered in blood. What happened?"

I sighed and told him the story of me getting the call and coming back as fast as I could. Then I went into the gory details of the warehouse fight because he wanted to know in detail how I handled all of them and if I made Thomas suffer.

I finished the story as we were standing outside the apartment and he slid the key into the lock. "Oh," Jace said as I began to walk towards my room and bathroom to take a nice long shower until it was time to go to the club. "I broke up with Kaelie while you were gone."

"Really?" I tried to sound bored. "How'd she take it?"

"Not well. And it didn't help that I was still recovering when she began to sob loudly. Now I know why you find her so irritating."

I turned and said, "Thank god! The man had a revelation!" I heard Jace laugh before I closed the door to my room and jumped into the waiting shower.

~.o.O.o.~

I heard a knock on my bedroom door around 9:30 and saw Isabelle Lightwood pop her head in. "Hey, you're Clary right?"

"Yeah," I responded and took in what she was wearing as she stepped in my room. She was wearing a skin tight short red dress with matching heels and her lips were as bright as rubies. Her eyes were brown with gold glittery eye shadow around them and her hair was straightened. She was tall, even when she wasn't in heels. "Izzy, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Ooh I like what you're doing with your makeup!" She walked farther into my room without permission but I decided to let it go since she seemed do interested in what I was doing.

"Thanks," I replied and turned to continue with my makeup. I continued with painting my lips my signature color. The color of dark red roses or spilt blood. Whichever identification you prefer. I put my hair up into a ponytail and put the finishing touched on my light smoky eye.

"So I heard you kicked ass today?"

I looked over at Izzy as I stood up and walked to my closet, picking out my dress for tonight. "Yeah, that butt fuck Thomas was the reason you were compromised. I finished him off though….and the rest of the warehouse."

She looked shocked. "You took them all down?! Shit, that's impressive!"

I smiled at her and picked out the black lacy set that I wore when I met Jace, but without the garter belt and thigh highs. I pulled a black bodycon dress out that was as short as Izzy's dress and picked out the matching heels to go with it. "So how long have you been training," Izzy asked as I stepped into my bathroom to get dressed.

"Since I was 18," I told her. I heard her suck in a breath and mumble something under her breath.

"Damn that's young…Did you go to college?"

"No," I told her, "I was training then and got my first assignment when I was 21." I walked out of the bathroom and bent down to tie the straps of my heels. When I stood up again Izzy had a smirk on her face.

"No straight, and hopefully single, guy in the club tonight will be able to take his eyes off you."

I gave her a smirk in return and winked as I said, "You've got that right." I walked over to her and we walked out of my room arm in arm as I said, "I think we're going to be good friends, Izzy."

She smiled at me and the moment we walked into the living room, Jace's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he saw me. I smirked at him and let my eyes look at the other people in the room. One was the guy with mousy brown hair and glasses that I'd seen on the security cameras, and then there was Alec…and a guy with more sparkles on him than I'd ever seen in my life. I let my eyes widen a little at the sight of the brightly colored man and immediately decided I liked him.

"Clary, this is Simon," she pointed to the brown haired guy, "my boyfriend; you already know my brother Alec, and this is his boyfriend Magnus." I smiled at Magnus as he came over to me and Izzy stepped away.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before his eyes widened. "You're telling me that this tiny thing with a great body killed every single guy in that warehouse single-handedly while you, Izzy, Alec couldn't even kill one? Jace, how embarrassed you must be!"

Jace opened his mouth to say something when Magnus held up a hand and silenced him immediately. I saw Jace roll his eyes and slump against the wall before letting his eyes lazily take in everything I was wearing. I turned my head back to Magnus and he handed me a small blade. "I need to see this to believe it."

"What do you want me to do?" I rose my eyebrows in challenge.

"Ooh, you're a little firecracker aren't you, Biscuit? Here's what I want you to do…" he leaned in and whispered what he wanted me to do in my ear and a smirk adorned my face.

"You're on Sparkles," I said and lifted my chin up higher before I squared myself off and turned my body sharply towards Jace. The dagger left my fingers and landed in the wall beside Jace's head before he realized what was going on.

"What the fuck, Clary?!" Jace jumped away from where the knife was now embedded in the wall and I turned towards a satisfied Magnus.

"Looks like you owe me free alcohol for the night," I smiled.

Magnus smirked at me and said, "I like you little red. And a deal's a deal. Free alcohol for throwing a knife at Jace's head and narrowly missing him by half an inch. You're a very precise person."

"Of course," I said and turned to walk out of the apartment with a smirking Izzy and Magnus at my sides and a shocked Jace, Simon, and Alec still standing there.

Off to the club we go.


	7. The Club

**AN: I** _ **certainly**_ **had fun writing this chapter…have fun reading it…. Oh, and just FYI;** _ **most**_ **,** _ **(not all!)**_ **of what Jace and Clary do** _ **on the**_ _ **dance floor**_ _ **,**_ _ **(nowhere else!)**_ **happened to me, which is where I got my inspiration for that part. Only the part where they're** _ **not**_ **facing each other happened…So enjoy!**

 **~ Miss-Ashwright**

"God. _It's freezing!_ It's probably going to snow tomorrow and the line is _so long_! We might be here a while," Izzy said next to me and I smirked. Jace saw my look and scoffed. "What?" Izzy asked him as I walked out of the line and they followed me with a confused look on their faces.

"She has a gift of avoiding lines, just watch," I heard Jace say before I was on the steps and walking up to the bouncer. I batted my eyelashes and saw his eyes run up and down my body before he stopped me.

"Sorry miss, but you're going to have to wait in the line like everyone else unless you're on the VIP list."

I had a look on my face that was pure boredom as I tilted my head to the side and said, "You're going to let me in now."

He sighed heavily and looked at the clipboard and asked, "Name?"

"Oh you won't find it on there," I replied while lifting my nails up to inspect them.

"Then you're not getting in."

I raised an eyebrow and walked closer to him until his hand grabbed my arm. I glared at him and leaned in to whisper in his ear. I said five simple words that had him backing away as fast as he could from me with wide eyes and apologizing profusely, "What if I'm Clarissa Morgenstern?"

He stepped away from the door he was guarding and I smirked with the promise of death lacing my voice, "You're not going to tell anyone I was here, right?" He shook his head quickly and I turned around to see a shocked Izzy, Simon, Alec, and Magnus looking at me while Jace just shook his head in amusement. "Come on guys," I said and they started walking up the stairs and into the club as I stared at the bouncer.

"I swear on my life," he said with a quaking voice.

"Good," I replied before walking into Pandemonium. The loud music and flashing lights made me smile as I located my friends at the bar. I walked along the edge of the dance floor and saw Izzy, Simon, Alec, and Magnus asking Jace what happened. "I got us in didn't I? Does it really matter how I did it," I shouted over the music and saw them turn and look at me with wide eyes.

"You're a miracle," Izzy shouted back at me. I looked at Magnus and raised my eyebrows expectantly.

"What happened to free drinks?" He smiled at me and handed me a shot. I took it and nodded my head in thanks before I lifted the glass to my lips and felt the burn of alcohol down my throat. I sat down at the bar for a couple moments and took another shot as I saw Izzy grab Simons hand and pull him to the dance floor. Magnus did the same with Alec and soon, both couples had joined those already on the dance floor in grinding with their partners.

"So how'd you actually do it," I felt Jace lean over to my ear and ask.

"I just said my name," I answered and he nodded his head in understanding. I looked over at him and saw a hand wrap around his arm and pull him to the dance floor. She was a pretty brunette and they joined the fray of gyrating bodies as I took another shot and stood up.

I felt the warmth of alcohol spreading throughout my body and smirked as I headed straight into the dance floor. I weaved my body in and out of grinding people and stopped walking once I reached a good space. My hips began to move to the beat of the music and I let myself go. I was swaying my hips as much as I wanted until I felt a pair of hands grab my waist and pull my body against his.

I kept my ass planted against his and let my torso drift away a bit. Touching everywhere was too intimate for me. He set the pace of our grinding and I let him take charge. I looked up and saw Izzy looking at me over Simons shoulder. She gave me a thumbs up and winked at me. I smiled and winked back.

I grinded against this stranger for a few minutes before I got bored. He didn't do anything new and it got tiring. We had moved to the edge of the mass of bodies and it would be an easy get away. Just as I was about to walk away, I saw Jace sitting at the bar again. He looked around for a little bit and I averted my eyes to the floor. I began to grind harder against this guy and looked up.

I saw Jace looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I let a sultry smile graze my lips and sent a wink to Jace. I saw his face darken and closed my eyes before I saw anymore. I knew I got under his skin by doing that and smirked at the thought. I would so hold this over his head.

Suddenly, I felt the guys hands leave my waist quickly and turned to see him leaving quickly. Before I could turn anymore, I felt a new pair of hands on me. Instead of grabbing my waist, they wrapped around my stomach and pulled me flush against him. "Hey little Red," I heard Jace say in my ear.

It sent a wave of heat to my core and I smirked before letting my hands drift to my upper thighs again and rest there. Jace began to move behind me and still had his hands on my stomach as I moved with him. His hands kept me tightly pressed against him and I certainly didn't mind it when it was Jace behind me.

I felt his head lean down and rest in the crook of my neck. He began to press light kisses intermittently against my neck on that one sensitive spot. My eyes closed and mouth opened a little bit to let more air into my lungs and released a shaky breath. I bit my lip and when Jace's hips went left, I moved mine slightly right and then resumed with his pace. He pulled me against him a little harder every time I did that.

Eventually I felt his hands run down my body onto my legs and grab my hands. He laced his fingers in mine and pulled them back up against my stomach. His head pressed deeper into my neck and I felt his lips touch my neck a bit harder than the last time. I moved right as Jace moved left again and pressed harder against him than I ever had with anyone before. He responded by pushing against me with the same force.

I knew he could hear my breathing getting harder and felt some of his stubble against my jaw. I opened my eyes and saw the scantily clad brunette Jace was dancing with earlier glaring at me. "What happened to the brunette," I asked.

Jace stepped away from me and turned me around to face him briskly. "She doesn't make me feel like this," he said as he pulled me against him again. This time we were facing each other and I felt a hardness against my front. I released a sound that was a mix between a breathy sigh and a gasp as I felt a pressure in the apex of my thighs. His hands wrapped lowly around my hips and started moving me against him again. I reached up and grabbed his muscled arms for support as my legs felt like jelly and my head fell back a bit.

I looked back up at him and saw the darker gold color that his eyes had turned. They were filled with lust and made me feel even more heat shoot between my legs. I couldn't take it anymore as I reached up and wrapped my hands around his face and pulled his lips to mine. I felt that same weirdness I did the first time we kissed and leaned harder into the kiss. He gladly complied and we began to make out. I have never felt like this before. I have never lost myself like this before…and I _loved_ it.

When we broke apart for air, my lips were still tingly from the kiss and I sighed as he planted his lips against my neck. I felt is teeth and tongue against my pulse point and knew he'd leave a mark. I released breathy sighs and once I got bumped into, I remembered that we were in the middle of a dance floor. "Jace," I said breathlessly and pulled his head from my neck. He looked at my neck and I knew there was a mark on it.

I turned and walked out of his grasp, weaving through the gyrating bodies. I made a beeline for the bar and pulled out my ponytail to hide the mark on my neck from Magnus, Alec, Izzy, and Simon who were sitting at the bar. "Hey, Clary, how'd it go with that guy you were dancing with?" I ignored Izzy's question and grabbed the shots out of their hands and downed them quickly.

"I'll take that as 'he was a douche,'" Izzy said and I distantly heard Jace calling for me over the music.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said and left quickly. I took a deep breath once I reached the cool night air and stumbled down the stairs in my hurry to leave. My ears were ringing from the loud music as I began to walk towards the apartment. My mind was racing and I couldn't keep a thought in one place long enough to analyze it. _I was just grinding with Jace on the dance floor. I liked having my body pressed tightly against his. I was terrified when he was injured and lost my mind in a way I never have before. I've never told anyone about my past…There are so many firsts associated with Jace…_ And so my thoughts went on.

I could see my breath in front of me and I was freezing in my dress. _Out of sight, out of mind_ my brain immediately thought and I didn't think about me being cold. I kept walking and soon reached my shared apartment with Jace. I nodded at the doorman and he opened the door for me without a second thought. I trudged through the ornately decorated lobby and waited by the elevators. I heard a _ding_ and walked into the elevator with my mind still racing. "Clary," I heard Jace call to me just as the elevator doors closed and saw him running to try to catch them. I felt my heart beating faster and sighed as the elevator took me to the 48th floor. I stepped out of the elevator quietly and walked down the long hallway until I reached the door.

The door opened quickly and I shut it, walking towards the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of alcohol and poured myself a quick glass before downing it and heading towards my room, when the door opened. "Clary," I heard Jace say and turned to see him panting hard. There was a look in his eyes that terrified me. The door slammed shut as he walked towards me.

"No," I stopped him. I didn't want to hear what he was going to say. Some part of me already knew what he would say.

"Clary, listen to me." He walked towards me with his hands out like I was a terrified caged animal.

"No," I said again in a shaky voice. My breathing became harder and I backed up a step. For every step he took towards me, I backed up. Eventually, my back was against the wall and I knew I had nowhere else I could run.

Jace kept walking towards me and stopped three feet in front of me. "Clary," I shook my head and let out a harsh breath, "I have never done anything like that in public before. You make me lose all of my self-control." I kept shaking my head as he continued, "It took me longer to realize this than I thought it would…and I never thought this would happen to me…but-"

I cut him off, "Don't say it." I felt a rouge tear fall down my cheek and made no move to wipe it away.

He closed the distance and held my hands in his, "I love you Clary…I _love_ you."

I felt my tears fall harder and I released a sob, "I-I can't love Jace. My father ruined me when I was 18. That's why I'm the best assassin and spy," I paused to take in a breath that just caused more tears to fall, "I don't feel remorse when I kill, Jace…I-I can't love." I pulled my hands out of his and sunk to the floor with my head in my hands. I've cried twice in front of Jace and now I feel Jace sitting next to me and pull me into his arms like he did the other night. I was taught that crying made you weak, but here I am…crying on the floor with a guy who has his arms wrapped around me. I cried harder.

"You can love Clary…that feeling you get when we kiss, when I was in a coma for a couple days and you lost control on the guys in the warehouse," he pauses as I lean into his body, "That's love…the fact that you don't know what love is or feels like, after everything that you've gone through, makes me love you so much more. You're special Clary…and I love you for it. I _love_ you Clarissa Morgenstern."

My crying slowed down as I listened to him talk and I sat up. Jace looked at me with concern from where he was leaning against the wall and I stretched my leg over his so I was straddling him. I placed my hands around his face and pulled his lips gently to mine. I could taste the saltiness of my tears and knew Jace could too.

I pulled back and looked deep into his rich golden eyes. The words that were scratching my throat, that made my eyes burn in a different way than normal tears, that I've been taught to hate come pouring out. The words that send daggers into my heart whenever I hear people on the streets saying them to each other, the words that kill me…fall out of my own mouth with no hint of regret behind them. I let the adamant wall around my heart fall as I whisper, "I love you too Jace Herondale."


End file.
